Chapter 184 : Contact Established, but the Internet Speed Was Not Enough
Chapter 184: Contact Established, but the Internet Speed Was Not Enough
Long Tao touched the spatial pouch at his waist, sensing the vibration of the mirror inside.
His heart surged with excitement, just like when he had been in college and suddenly received a late-night message from the goddess he admired. Even his face grew slightly flushed.
This proved that this place was not completely sealed off! At the very least… there was still the possibility of communicating with the outside world.
True Person Mingzhu noticed that Long Tao, who had just been slick-tongued and brazenly teasing her, had suddenly flushed red. Instantly, she grew wary. In this strange village, any anomaly was worth paying attention to.
“What’s wrong with you? Why has your face suddenly turned so red?” she asked with a frown.
Just as Long Tao was about to share the good news, he suddenly realized that he could not!
First, this little mirror was an absolute secret between Saintess Yaxi and him. He had only obtained it because of his identity as a fellow transmigrator. He could not expose it so easily.
Second… he and True Person Mingzhu were now “husband and wife.” Even if it was just an act, within this village, rules were everything. If he maintained a private connection with another woman—especially a top-tier beauty—right in front of his “wife,” and secretly contacted her, would the village judge it as infidelity?
The possibility might be low, but for safety’s sake—and since they were not yet at the point of utter desperation—he decided… to conceal the matter of the little mirror for now.
“N-no, it’s nothing… I just… thought that maybe I really might have to… you know… consummate the marriage with you, True Person. I… couldn’t help but imagine it a little.”
“Shameless!” True Person Mingzhu was instantly both embarrassed and furious. “I… I will absolutely not consummate anything with you! I must leave this wretched place before that happens!”
With that, she turned angrily and walked toward the crossroads.
As Long Tao followed behind her, he carefully observed the surrounding houses again.
He realized that every house here seemed to have the same layout and exterior.
Only the items placed at the entrances differed slightly. Otherwise, it would truly be impossible to tell them apart.
Thinking of this, he suddenly understood that this was also something he could not afford to neglect. In the future, whenever knocking on doors, he would have to remember each household’s position carefully. If he forgot, it would be troublesome.
For now, he simply could not distinguish between the houses.
When they returned beneath the banyan tree, Xin Wushe was nowhere to be seen.
The group of young people were distributing wild boar meat.
A tall, thin young man saw True Person Mingzhu and immediately hurried over with a hind leg of wild boar in his hands, his face piled with shyness mixed with calculation.
“M-Miss Mingzhu, Big Brother Xin said earlier that you should get a share too. Please take this piece.”
“Oh, thank you. May I ask…”
True Person Mingzhu did not even offer a polite smile, yet the mere parting of her lips was enough to make the surrounding men blush and their hearts race. The eager tall youth grew so excited that he stammered,
“My name is Ji Boxiao! If you… if you don’t understand anything in the future, you can ask me! I…”
Seeing his flushed face and stumbling speech, True Person Mingzhu felt somewhat speechless. She had only meant to ask where Xin Wushe had gone, not to inquire about his name.
Yet Ji Boxiao had volunteered it, leaving her original question stuck in her throat.
“I see. We’ll have to interact often here in the future.”
As she spoke, however, she did not take the wild boar hind leg. Instead, she glanced at her “husband.” Long Tao immediately understood that she disliked the blood and grease on the meat.
Tearing a strip of cloth from himself, he stepped forward with a smile and accepted the pork.
“Brother Ji, you’re too kind.”
Ji Boxiao looked at Long Tao, and barely concealed jealousy and disgust showed on his face. Although the other men carried similar emotions, this one was excessive. It was as though Long Tao had stolen his wife.
But having just arrived, Long Tao certainly did not want any unpleasantness with this group. He forced out a smile.
Meanwhile, several young women seemed rather fond of him and returned friendly smiles.
Still unwilling to give up, Ji Boxiao continued to fawn over True Person Mingzhu.
“Miss Mingzhu, every day you can go to the warehouse to collect necessary food. It’s the largest house to the south. Don’t forget to go.”
Long Tao and True Person Mingzhu followed the direction he pointed and indeed saw a building larger than the others along the southern dirt road. They both nodded.
But at this moment, True Person Mingzhu clearly had little interest in dealing with Ji Boxiao.
The desire and calculation in his eyes were too shallow and greedy.
There was something unpleasant about his overall temperament and character. By comparison, even that scoundrel Long Tao seemed somewhat more agreeable.
“Let’s go back,” she said, flicking her sleeve lightly. “I’m a bit tired.”
Since the bridal chamber they lived in was right by the intersection, they quickly arrived at the door.
Remembering Du Yiluo’s reminder and acting cautiously, Long Tao first confirmed the name on the doorplate. Only after verifying it was correct did he push the door open and enter.
However, the moment he stepped inside, another question occurred to him. If others came to see him during the day, should they knock?
And if they did, would the original villagers open the door—or would he? If both he and the original villager opened it at the same time, what kind of scene would that be?
The more he thought about it, the more unsettling it became.
He decided that the next time he saw Du Yiluo and Xin Wushe, he would clarify this issue. Meanwhile… True Person Mingzhu did seem genuinely tired. As soon as she entered, she sat on the bed and lay down.
“After becoming a mortal, my body probably hasn’t adjusted yet. I’m truly a little tired. I’ll sleep for a while.”
“Of course, True Person. Please rest.”
Once she closed her eyes, Long Tao went into the adjacent room and took out the Xiangjianhuan mirror from his pouch.
The pink crystal on it was indeed reacting, but it was somewhat different from before. The frequency of its glow seemed unstable.
He tried touching it, yet the mirror surface showed no response. Just as disappointment rose within him, a stream of information suddenly appeared directly in his mind. It was Saintess Yaxi’s voice.
“Long Tao! You were seized directly from the martial arena. We suspect you and True Person Mingzhu were taken to the same place. I tried contacting you with Xiangjianhuan, but it didn’t work until now. However, the place you’re in seems very special. The two mirrors can’t chat normally anymore. I can only try to package this message and send it to you. If you receive it, use the same method to reply. I’ll teach you how right now…”
Damn! So there had indeed been a breakthrough—but not much of one. Simply put, although the network between both sides had connected, the latency was so high that real-time communication was impossible. They could barely manage something like sending emails.
Even so, this was a rare glimmer of light in the darkness.
Suppressing his excitement, Long Tao followed the method Saintess Yaxi taught him. He condensed his thoughts within his Sea of Consciousness into a cohesive cluster, carefully wrapping them in a thread of faint Divine Sense, and attempted to transmit them through the small mirror.
He did not know whether it would succeed, but he could only place his hopes on this miraculous mirror. In a village where even Golden Core cultivators were instantly suppressed into mortals, it still retained cross-boundary communication abilities.
The rank and existential level of this Xiangjianhuan mirror far exceeded his previous imagination. For Saintess Yaxi to casually gift him such a thing—she truly regarded him as a brother.
……
At the same time, on the Main Peak of the Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect, within the guest courtyard where the Hehuan Sect was staying, Saintess Yaxi had been lying on her bed attending to her business when she was startled by the vibration of the small mirror on her bedside table. Blushing, she quickly sat up and hurriedly scrambled to put on her clothes.
Just as she was about to light up the mirror to see who was contacting her, she realized… that it was only a strand of Divine Sense transmitting through it. Immediately, she understood something and whispered excitedly,
“It’s Long Tao! We’ve really made contact with him!”